Bruce Baker and Ron talk about the Practice of Managing the Human Asset in a business.

Absolutely. So the company's name is Workplaces, and it's been going for approximately about seven years. And Ron, initially it started off with the attempt to, successfully of course, but the attempt to bring human resource management to small business and making sure that what was provided, i. e. the solution that was provided, was number one, accessible. in terms of understanding the basics, making sure that it wasn't intimidating in any way, and most importantly, the connection between human capital or people and the business's bottom line. Then that grew and went very well and certainly made the impact that I was intending it to make. And then we broadened our scope to more general business growth. for small to mid-sized business. So that's what we've been doing probably, I'd say, a good five out of the seven years thus far. And, yeah, that's where we're at today.

HR, at the end of the day, is the practice of managing an asset. And the asset we talk about in this case is the human asset. And I want to emphasize that the human asset is the only asset that actually grows in a business. Everything else amortizes, everything else devalues. So it is also probably the one and only complexity in business. So it's ironic and interesting where the term soft skill comes into the discussion. And frankly, it's very far from soft. It's quite hard. It's very complicated. And HR management, as it says, is a practice, should be a practice where the HR individual, HR person or practitioner is Trying to close the divide or the gap between or narrowing that gap, making it a lot more thoughtful, a lot more tangible and very clear in terms of when the business owner or the business leader does X, there are tangible and clear positive results that come from that action.

So human resources at the end of the day or human resource management at the end of the day. is the management of the business and the human capital asset and bringing them together so they can produce profits together as opposed to the machine or the non-human and human component.

Well, there are two answers to that question. The typical answer to that question, which is the easy one, is build processes, build systems, bring in procedures, et cetera, et cetera. And that is certainly a requirement in terms of good HR management. system or program, whatever you want to call it. But what I have found tremendously helpful and effective is, first and foremost, it's partnership. Because if you look at any leader in large corporations and even in small businesses, when it comes to the human management side of things or the people management side of things, this is where the biggest stressors start to develop and in some cases get out of control. So when you're building a human resources management program in a business and you're rolling it out, partnership and being able to deploy resources that actually are partners of frontline or field management, field leadership is essential. That's where it starts.

When you say the employee does in terms of their job. Yes. Yeah. It's absolutely essential. And this is where.

Yes.

Yes.

Correct.

Absolutely right. Yeah.

If you don't have that, you have a mess. You have misalignment. You have confusion, frustration, and, of course, the relationship between boss and employee starts to erode. The biggest mistake that's made regularly, regardless of size of business, is my employee should understand what I expect. And if they don't understand it, you know, the big question is why wouldn't they understand it? It makes common sense. It's obvious. It's implied. And any relationship, regardless of professional or personal relationship, is an understanding of expectation from both sides. In this case, it's the manager that has to clearly explain what is required, what success looks like, and what How do you measure success at the end of the day? If the employee doesn't understand that, the employee goes out doing what they think they need to do as opposed to what the manager expects them to do. So it can cause a lot of damage unnecessarily.

I'd say at minimum on a monthly basis.

All the time.

The primary reason why it's true is because the conversation is not one of two-way dialogue in terms of the result that needs to be achieved. It is a dialogue that, frankly, the managers have to find or the manager has to find things to talk about. A lot of it becomes small talk. But if the conversation is not based upon what results need to be achieved, then it tends to go haywire. The traditional performance review is not effective because It is intimidating. It is highly administrative and can become more of an obstacle than a means to actually engage conversation.

100%. So what I encourage people or managers, leaders to think about is where does it all start? Well, I hire an employee to help me with my job. That's why I hire someone to help. My results are contingent upon the employee being successful in achieving those results. Therefore, I now have a partnership. So like any partnership, where do we start? Well, Ron, you and I sit down. We discuss the expectations and the results that the business requires from us. We plan. We align as per what you just said earlier on. And we agree to what success looks like. That success. ultimately becomes part of those objectives and the results that need to be achieved. By following up with each other or meeting each other six months later, or even 90 days later, it's too far. It disconnects individuals from the actual results that need to be achieved. And also there's no opportunity to course correct, right?

Or at least if there is any course correction, it's too late. So it's imperative that that becomes more simplistic, basic and focuses on results that need to be achieved.

Right.

Big time, yes.

Yeah.

Correct.

Correct.

It's awesome. I love it.

Right? Absolutely. And you make an interesting point over there, and it's something that I certainly discuss with my clients and people I have the privilege of working with is the mental process, or more importantly, maybe the experience is what we all talk about when it comes to marketing, it comes to the customer or the client experience. Taking it to the employee side of things is actually asking, what about the employee experience? When we look at market acquisition or customer acquisition, if you will, and then we look at talent acquisition and you look at the process that we go through when it comes to that, attracting the right market share, attracting the right talent share, and then bringing them on board and presenting and hopefully managing and facilitating an experience. that makes them a better customer, that makes them a better employee. If we think about it, we start off with a commitment that we're making to them.

And our success is predicated on whether we're able to deliver on that commitment. So being able to expect your employee to make you as the leader look successful by virtue of what they achieve. logic dictates that, well, why wouldn't you want to provide them with a red carpet treatment and provide everything they need in order to make you successful? Yeah.

Yeah.

100%. Yeah.

Absolutely. And Ron, I think you nailed it there, the relationship. Yeah. Right. When you if you take the traditional performance review discussion, it's always it always used to be from the top down. I'm going to be judged and evaluated. And if I am and regardless of what happens, there's an outcome or there's a consequence associated with whatever that judgment may be. On the manager's side is that, well, the only way I can evaluate you because I'm told I have to evaluate you. is, you know, a lot of the times, behavior, attitude, intentions, etc., etc. And managers are not psychotherapists. Managers manage their business. So it moves away from what we're actually trying to achieve, and that is to assist and support each other in achieving the result that's required. In order to achieve the result that's required, you need that loyalty. And that loyalty is only produced or created out of trust.

And I'm not talking about trust in terms of you seem like a nice person, good person. I trust you. The trust is, and you said it in the beginning, is that vulnerability-based trust. And vulnerability-based trust is I don't have to be the knight in shining armor in front of my manager. If I make a mistake, we make it together, but I'll make damn sure that I don't make that mistake again. Right. And, you know, the in addition to that, mixing money or the discussion of money with performance or results that need to be achieved is also incredibly destructive. The money is a desatisfier. It's not it doesn't satisfy. Right. And, you know, so. What do I do? I keep my mouth shut while my manager is talking in case it affects my chances of getting the increase or the proverbial merit increase. So it goes back to that loyalty again, but loyalty requires trust and requires trust to be at a vulnerable level.

Yeah.

Yep.

Hmm.

And

you. Yeah. Yeah.

100%. You also said something that I think was really key is the instead of what's the word? It's like a top down more prescribing. Yeah. But also the way you asked it is, what do you think, Ron? Where do you think your area of improvement is? And even more powerful is you attach that to the results that need to be achieved. Yeah. And that builds a great, great relationship.

Yes, they are.

Well, I was waiting for business whisperer, but therapist worked stuck.

No, you know, therapist side is I've been, you know, when you talk business coach consultant, it's traditionally interpreted as highly technical, highly expert. that type of stuff, which is fine and dandy. But at the end of the day, the business owner, especially small to mid-sized business, is in great need of the technical expertise, but is in greater need of self-validation. And then what I'm doing or what I'm wanting to do is the right thing to do. And on top of that, is a lot of small business owners are very, you know, incredibly hard on themselves because that's the typical entrepreneurial mindset. But at the same time, it becomes destructive and self-defeating. So the therapist word came around where, you know, traditionally getting to a group, a group of business owners, CEOs, etc. And being able to, funny enough, going back to that word vulnerable again, being able to become vulnerable and talking about why do I feel this way?

It's making me think differently or it's making me very divergent in my thinking and I can't seem to take action. I can't seem to execute. I did this and failed. Now I don't feel like I can move forward anymore. I'm failing my business, failing myself and failing my employees.

Correct.

Right.

Correct. 100% correct. Yeah. It's the emotion that ultimately dictates their state of mind. And when, as we know, as much as we have the big brain at the end of the day, our emotions are our biggest strength, but also our biggest weakness. So we tend to get, the business owner tends to get mired in this emotional mess, if you will. And like you correctly say, there are very few that the business owner or the leader at the end of the day can actually go and talk to and say, Am I thinking this right? Am I being too hard on myself? You know, this morning I had a discussion with the CEO saying, I just consider myself being lazy and just not interested because I look at my computer screen and I've got nothing to do. Well, after a significant period of work where, you know, the focus was on delegation and the focus was on building systems. So it wasn't just he that was doing that. It was an extension of him.

There is a sudden, I say, a section where it crosses where you start to realize that, well, now what do I do because everybody else is doing this for me? An example of when business owners get to that crisis point, they have to talk about it. And then reimagining or redefining what they're all about and that they are on the right path. as opposed to fail.

Yeah,

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Oh, absolutely.

Well, the interesting part is that the practice is already there in terms of what I do day in and day out. Not formally as an official group or the dozen, as you mentioned, but it is something that I think is, or not think, I know is incredibly beneficial because of one thing really. And that is the separation between, you know, quote unquote, my business life and my home life. And as you just indicated, you know, get the example of the CEO that's, you know, has business demands, but also has home personal demands and divorce this and trouble this. And it is exactly what happens in these discussions and trying to reconcile or. give them comfort to understand that there is, there isn't really a divide between the two and making them understand that it's okay to bring those two together and to solve the problem that they're experiencing by looking at both spheres in their lives. So that's, you know, the group, the group is an opportunity to.

give people the opportunity to bring different aspects that may not always be business related, but are impacting business and may not always be business related, but are impacting personal. Right. So that, that is, that probably where, where it needs to go and giving people that, that, that, you know, for lack of a better word, that stage or that platform to not only discuss it in person, should they wish, but also discuss it with like-minded people or people that are experiencing something similar.

Absolutely. And sharing those thoughts also what I find is incredibly important is sharing those thoughts, but also giving them the opportunity. And giving themselves permission to actually do something about it. Yeah.

Exactly.

Yeah, yeah. Excuse me. You remind me of a – it's more like a game, but let's call it an exercise for purposes of professionalism. But I call it the silly game. And the silly game is an opportunity to reintroduce business owners and, of course, their leadership teams, if applicable, reintroduce their childlike imagination. We are, unfortunately, as we get older and older and get exposed to the world around us, we become more and more constrained based on money and time. And the silly game is purposefully. divorcing oneself from time and money and really talking about, well, imagine if we could, what happens if we, if we did this? Oh, that's just silly. Okay. Well, let's put that on the list. And to what you said, Ron, and I'll say exactly the same thing is it's phenomenal and mind bending when you see what people come up with and They say, well, that's just not reasonable or not realistic. And then you challenge the thought and say, why?

Well, it's too expensive. How do you know that? Well, I just don't have time. Why not? And that's where it comes out. And it's amazing what people achieve with that.

huge. Like I said, I've been fortunate enough to have clients from different geographies around the world. And we still get the opportunity, especially when they're introduced to each other, et cetera, et cetera. Here and there, we'll have an ad hoc Zoom get together. Or last week, we had a couple of business owners here in Stony Plain and Spruce Grove where... Got together. It was all about lean and lean manufacturing, but it ended up being a conversation on their businesses, their lives, their person, and it was very well received and very effective.

Absolutely. Sounds awesome.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Thanks, Ron.